April 5 - For several days past the
officers and excutive committee of the Consolidated Esmeralda Mines Co. have
been in session at the Iroquois Hotel in this city. They are perfecting plans
for the first payment on the properties included within the term given above
and for a large development of the mines.

Those now in Buffalo are J.H. Durkee, of Sandy
Hill N.Y., president; James N. Adam, of Buffalo, vice-president; J.A. Yerington,
of Carson City, Nevada, one of the Board of Directors; J.N. Gardner, of New
York City, fiscal agent, and Thomas H. Feary of Quincy, Mass., formerly of
Buffalo, who is largely interested in the mines. The company is incorporated
under the laws of Arizona and has a capital stock of $1,000,000

The formation of the Esmeralda Mines Company
is a direct outgrowth of the Pan-American Exposition. Mr. Yerington came to
Buffalo as chairman of the State Board of Pan-American Commissioners for the
State of Nevada. Among the exhibits of the State in the Mines building were
models of the groups now owned by the Esmeralda Company and samples of the
ore produced by the mines. Mr. Yerington saw the advantage of forming a compant
in the East for the purpose of acquiring a controlling interest in these properties,
which were then owned in Nevada, California and in England.

Among those who became interested in the proposition
was Ald. Adam, who commissioned Mr. Feary to go to Nevada and inspect the
properties. The report was so favorable that not only Mr. Adam, but Mr. Feary
himself took large blocks of stock in the mines.

Already many hundred thousand dollars' worth
of gold ore has been produced by these mines, but they are still practically
undeveloped. The facilities for mining are at present so limited that all
ores of less than $30 to the ton have been dumped into a heap and have been
left untouched. It is for the purpose of bringing water to the district and
the erection of a mill for the working of low-grade ore that the present company
has been formed...

April 5 - Frank Harris of the Chicago
House Wrecking Company, which bought the Exposition buildings, was asked this
morning regarding the correctness of the statement that he has "publicly
offered the Electric Tower for one-third of the original cost."

"I have made no public offer," said
Mr. Harris, "and I have made no such proposition, either publicly or
privately."

"What offer are you willing, then, to
make to the city?" was asked.

"We shall want what we can realize from
the sale of the steel and wood which the structure contains," answered
Mr. Harris, "but desire no premium beyond that."

"What is your price?"

"Forty-five thousand dollars," was
the reply.

When it was intimated that there was nothing
of a Friday-bargain inducement in the size of the figures, Mr. Harris replied:

"The tower contains 1000 tons of steel,
which is worth $50 a ton, or $50,000. It also contains 2,000,000 feet of lumber,
which is certainly worth $10 per 1000 feet, or $20,000. Add these together
and you have $70,000, the value of the materials when taken down. The city
can have the tower for $45,000."

"And would your company take the tower
down at that price?" was asked.

"It would not," replied Mr. Harris,
"and besides the city would probably want to take down the tower itself
if it intended to re-erect the structure."

Newcomb Carlton, who was Director of Works
at the Exposition, was questioned regarding the reasonableness of the figures
asked by Mr. Harris.

"As a price to the citizens of Buffalo
for the tower as it stands I should consider it very high," said Mr.
Carlton, "for I don't consider it worth any such sum to the city. But,
on the other hand, although I profess to no expert knowledge on the wrecking
business I should also say that, if the iron and lumber were all down and
on board cars, the material might be worth $45,000. The steel cost about $65,000
and it cost about $15,000 to erect it."

Mr. Carlton then went on to discuss the probable
cost to the citizens of Buffalo should the tower be bought, taken down and
erected again on some other site.

"We will start with a cost price of $45,000,"
said he. "It would cost $10,000 to take down the steel frame and at least
$15,000 to put it up again. The cost of taking down the woodwork might possibly
be covered by the sale of the timber. Then you would have a total expense
of $70,000 - and what would you have? Simply the framework.

"Now suppose, " continued Mr. Carlton,
"that the tower were rebuilt of no more durable materials than at present.
The cost would be as follows:

"I am not prepared to say what it would
cost to case the tower with terra cotta and brick in place of staff and wood,"
said Mr. Carlton, "but it is safe to say that the expense would be enough
greater to bring the total cost up to $300,000.

"And supposing that this large amount
of money were collected and the tower rebuilt," said Mr. Carton in conclusion,
"what would you then have? A structure of not sufficient merit to stand
as a grand monument, and which the architect never intended for any such purpose.
That Tower was conceived in spirit of the Exposition. It partakes of the nature
of the Exposition architecture. It was never meant to stand alone but was
fashioned in conformity with its surroundings. It was part of a scheme of
special nature and, taken alone, would be of little value."

April 8 - A beginning has been made
in the movement to secure the retention of the Electric Tower in Buffalo.
Ald. Butler of the Third Ward, who has manifested considerable interest in
this proposition, yesterday had a subscription list drawn up and after the
session of the Board of Alderman yesterday afternoon he placed it in the office
of the Mayor. Ald. Adam heard of this and immediately put his name downfor
$100, becoming the first subscriber to the fund.

When Ald. Butler was questioned this morning
regarding his ideas as to what should be done, he said:

"While it would be a splendid thing for
the municipality to buy the Electric Tower, I doubt very much whether the
mass of the taxpayers would approve of this addition to the city's obligations
at this time. It would be better for many reasons to raise the money by voluntary
subscriptions.

"My idea would be to place subscription
lists in the Mayor's office, in the office of each of the newspapers, in the
banks and possibly in a few of the principal hotels. These places should of
course be officially designated in order to prevent the possibility of unauthorized
persons soliciting money.

"The management of the project should
be placed in the hands of a committee of prominent citizens to be appointed
by the Mayor and I think it would be well to make the president of both bodies
of the Common Council members of this committee, so as to bring the city government
into touch with the movement.

"I would also most strongly recommend
that the proprietors of all the Buffalo newspapers be made members of the
committee as we must rely upon the press more than any other agency to popularize
this undertaking and to carry it through."

"Who is to be the ultimate custodian of
the funds?" was asked.

"The petition provides," said Ald.
Butler, "that the money shall be turned over to the Park Board of the
city, which body shall also have the power to determine the location. But
I suppose everyone will agree that the Tower should be placed at the Front,
as there it would serve as a beacon light upon the lak and the place is easily
accessible to sight-seers.

"You would be surprised," added Ald.
Butler, "at the popular sentiment in favor of preserving the Tower. As
an instance, a man who employs two or three hundred workmen came to me today
and told me that, at the noon hour yesterday, the Tower was the topic of conversation
among his men and all agreed to give a dollar each toward the project. With
such a spirit among poor men, and with many wealthy men standing ready to
contribute, I believe that the raising of the necessary funds for the preservation
of the Tower will be a matter of no great difficulty."

April 9 - Mayor Knight this morning
arranged for a conference to be held this afternoon between himself and Ald.
Butler and Supt. Harris of the Chicago House Wrecking Company as to the price
the wrecking company will charge the city for the Electric Tower which it
is proposed to place at the Front.

The price to be charged for the tower has been
variously stated at from $20,000 to $45,000, and the conference with Mr. Harris
is for the purpose of obtaining a final price stipulation or, it Mr. Harris
is unable to make one, to give him an opportunity to confer with the wrecking
company, which he represents.

"I don't think is is necessary for me
or anyone else to do anything further in this matter," said the Mayor,
"until we know just what the Tower is going to cost us. We don't want
to ask people to subscribe money for something on which no price has been
set. We might go to work and get money subscribed, and then find out that
we could not buy the tower for any reasonable sum.

"I don't think there should be any further
agitation until we ascertain the exact sum we will have to pay. When that
is done we can go ahead with our eyes open. I will call a meeting of citizens
and a committee will be appointed to go ahead with the work of raising the
necessary money."

April 10 - Mayor Erastus C. Knight and
Ald. Joseph Butler conferred yesterday afternoon with representatives of the
Chicago House Wrecking Company, which is removing the Pan-American buildings.,
and succeeded in obtaining from them the definite statement that the company
will sell the Electric Tower as it stands, for $25,000.

The representatives of the wrecking company
agreed to hold the offer open fo r30 days; in other words, they gave Mayor
Knight and Ald. Butler an option on the tower at the price mentioned and for
the length of time stated. It is understood that this is not to be regarded
as the minimum prices at which the tower may be purchased. This company may
see its way clear later to paring down the amount to some extent. One thing
determined at yesterday's conference, however, was that the wrecking company
stands ready now to sell the tower at that price.

Mayor Knight and Ald. Butler asked this afternoon
that the fact be made plain that no agreement was entered into at yesterday's
conference for the purchase of the tower.

"Our object," said Mayor Knight,
"was to secure a definite offer from the wrecking company which could
be used as a basis for further negotiations. We did not think it would be
wise to go ahead with the work of getting subscriptions, and then find in
the end that we would have to pay two prices for the tower. We secured a 30-day
option on the tower at $25,000, with a guarantee from the representatives.

"However, we entered into no agreement
for the purchase of the tower."

Mayor Knight this afternoon issued a call for
a public meeting which will be held in the Mayor's office on Saturday at 2
p.m. when, if it proves to be the sense of the meeting, committees will be
appointed to circulate subscription lists and to take up other work toward
the accomplishment of the desired end - the purchase of the tower.

Subscription lists are being prepared, and
will be ready to be given out at Saturday's meeting. These subscription lists
will not be distributed promiscuously. The work of circulating them will be
entrusted only to persons of recognized responsibility.

City Engineer Morse is preparing figures, at
the request of Mayor Knight, as to the probable cost of rebuilding the tower
with the view of giving it permanence. Mayor Knight was asked this afternoon
if the rebuilding figures were ready for publication or that if he could state
approximatedly what they are likely to aggregate.

"I am under the impression," said
he, "that the cost of rebuilding, including the putting in of elevators,
will be about $100,000, which would make the total cost complete $125,000."

Engineer Morse's figures will be made public
at Saturday's meeting.

April 10 - While $125,000 is a large
amount of money to raise by private subscription, still Buffalo is a big city
and the number of people who could be found to give from $1 to $10 toward
the purchase and permanet erection of the Electric Tower would make the securing
of the needed amount a very easy one - if the people could be reached. The
difficulty in raising any subscription is the securing of those who will give
the time and effort necessary to carry through the plan. Those active in the
movement should lend to it every possible amount of personal energy and support.

In view of the reduction in price named by
the Chicago Wrecking Company, which cut down its offer of the structure from
$45,000 to $25,000, it is perhaps ungracious to say that it is still trying
to make a pretty big profit out of the city, yet such is the case. The actual
value of the tower to the Wrecking Company is its scrap weight, taken down
and loaded on to cars. Thus it will have to be sold by them, finally, if the
city does not buy it as it stands. In view of this, Buffalo should be able
to buy the Tower at exactly its weight in scrap steel in place. The Wrecking
Company will make a handsome profit at that in being saved the cost of taking
the structure down and removing it. The city of Buffalo should receive as
good terms from the Wrecking Company as a private buyer would.

April 11 - "Yes, the price of $25,000
is for the Tower as it stands," said Mr. C.M. Morse, Deputy Commissioner
of Public Works for the Department of Engineering, in reply to a question
as to what the option on the Electric Tower given by the Chicago Wrecking
Company to Mayor Knight really stood for.

"Isn't that pretty high?"

"Yes."

"What is the structural steel and other
material in the Tower worth as scrap above the cost of taking it down?"

"Well, as to that I hardly feel like saying.
Its lump scrap figure would be one thing, but it is a frame of larger members,
and a considerable portion of it might be available for use if peddled out
in small lots. All the manufacturers of structural steel are three monthsor
so behind their orders, and a lot of steel immediately available might be
worth a considerable bonus, even it had to be cut and worked over."

"But what would be the price of structural
scrap steel of that character taken down and loaded on the cars in bulk?"

"Oh, $14 or $15 a ton, I should say. I
cannot tell exactly."

One of the best known men in the structural
steel trade in Buffalo was asked this morning more specifically as to the
value of the Electric Tower material and he gave some interesting figures..
Asked as to the value of the steel from the tower taken down and loaded on
the cars at present quotations, he said promptly:

"It would be worth $14 a ton."

"But is not the character of the steel,
its long members, etc., such that it could be used and worked over for sale
at a higher price?

"Probably a part of it could be so used,
but the uncertainties of such availability are great enough so it would not
command a price much in advance of scrap structural material."

"Do you know how much steel there is in
the tower?"

"Yes, there are 880 tons."

"Then you figure the scrap value of the
tower at #13,200, approximately."

"Yes, that would be about the figure."

"What would it cost to take the tower
down and load it on the cars for shipment?"

"About $12 a ton."

"Do you mean that it would cost over $10,000
to take the steel down and load it for transportation?"

"That is very close to what it would cost."

"Then if its scrap value is $12,000 and
its dismantling would cost $10,000, the Wrecking Company has only about $2000
profit in the steel of the tower as it stands at present."

"That is about all I can see in it for
them now."

In reply to a question as to what the tower
would cost to re-erect, the same man said that the frame could be put up again
at the Front or elsewhere at a cost of about $17 a ton or approximately $15,000.
The transportation of the steel from the present site to the Front with necessary
handling, piling, etc., might add in the neighborhood of $1 a ton to the cost.

These figures, of course, are those of steel
alone but the same conditions are approximately true in regard to the lumber
and other materials. A Buffalo contractor said today the lumber in the tower
would not be worth to him or anyone else more than a few hundred dollars above
the cost of taking it down.

All this goes to show that in asking the people
of Buffalo $25,000 for the Electric Tower as it stands, the wrecking company
is planning to make a good big profit, as all the actual profit at present
in sight will not greatly exceed $2500. Of course, through its practice of
holding the materials it gets and peddling them as it can find customers,
the wrecking company will probably do better than this, but it would be making
a big profit if it sold the tower to the city at its scrap value of $12,000.

April 11 - Mayor Knight this morning
received a $20 subscription from Charles H. Avery for the Electric Tower fund.

Among Mayor Knight's callers this morning
was a delegation from the committee which is in charge of the popular Sunday
afternoon concerts which are being given at Convention Hall. This delegation
stated that it had been decided to donate to the Electric Tower fund the proceeds
of the concerts for the coming two Sunday afternoons.

April 12 - Some days ago the NEWS requested
Col. Francis G. Ward, Commissioner of Public Works, to furnish for the information
of the public an estimate of the value of the present structure of the Electric
Tower, the cost of taking it down and setting it up again and casing the frame
with terra cotta and brick and providing for the other necessary expenditures
consequent upon erecting the Tower at the Front, as proposed at present. Col.
Ward yesterday received the estimates which had been prepared by Charles M.
Morse, the Deputy Engineer Commissioner, and transmitted them to this journal.
Here are the items in detail:

"In accordance with request, I have made
a rough estimate of the cost of moving the Electric Tower from its present
location on the Pan-American grounds to such location as the city might select
for it, assuming that the new location would be at the Front.

"The tower is, as you know, of steel construction,
with a lot of lumber used for floors, etc., and a covering of staff.

"I assume that for a permanent structure
it should be covered with terra cotta a brick.

"I also assume you do not contemplate
using the wings and structure around the base of the tower, only the square
tower itself.

"The price mentioned for the tower by
the wrecking company, the present owners, is $45,000, but I assume it could
be bought for much less, especially as the price is higher that the cost of
new steel, and the tower is worth to the wrecking company only such price
as they can get for the steel as scrap.

"The above is a close approximation to
the cost, assuming that the tower can be bought at a reasonable figure. It
does not include the elevators which, I understand are the property of the
Otis Elevator Company and have been removed.

"It is possible that the tower without
the present structures about the base would have to be supplemented by some
finished work at the base. It is also probable that something in the way of
ornamentation should take the place of the statuary and other staff ornamentation.

"It is also probable that some expense
would have to be incurred in the matter of converteres and connections for
electric lighting.

"I will endeavor to get a price for the
two elevators which, I assumer, would be wanted for your complete plant, or
at least one of them."

It will be observed that Mr. Morse has figured
the steel in the Tower, for which Mr. Harris of the Chicago House Wrecking
Company, the owners of the Tower, asks the modest price of $25,000, as worth
$11,960, which is considerably less than half the price asked by Mr. Harris.
In addition to this the owners would have to pay about $8000 for taking the
structure down and placing it on board cars where only would it be salable.
It should be borne in mind, however, that the House Wrecking Company, by holding
the steel for a purchaser in whole or in part, could probably get a better
figure for it than the scrap metal price.

The estimate for re-erecting the frame is $14,520.
The off-hand estimate of Newcomb Carlton, director of works at the Exposition,
was $15,000, so that can be set down as a pretty definite figure of this part
of the cost.

With regard to the price last asked by Mr.
Harris for the Tower, $25,000, Col. Ward had this to say:

"I regard this price as much too much,
since the same number of tons of new steel could be delivered on the ground
for $29,000. I don't think the owner of the Tower could get anything like
$25,000 for the material unless someone had a special use for it, and what
special use anyone could have for a frame like this is not easy to see."

"What do you consider a fair price for
the Tower as it stands today?" was asked.

"I think that $10,000 is all that it is
worth," replied Col. Ward.

April 12 - Col. Francis G. Ward received
the surrender of the Rainbow City yesterday. The place fell without a struggle.
The conquest of the Rainbow City was achieved in one of the shortest campaigns
in which Col. Ward ever participated. It was also a bloodless victory. This
was owing chiefly to the military preparatons which Col. Ward was making and
the scale of which appalled the forces of the Harris Wrecking Company, which
were in no position to stand a siege or to resist such an assault as Col.
War was contemplating.

Two days ago Col. Ward received a delegation
of citizens of North Buffalo, who complained that their business was annoyed
and hindered by the continuance of the blockade of transportation on the part
of the Chicago House Wrecking Company in maintaining a fence at Amherst street
at its intersection with Delaware and Elmwood avenues. They protested at being
compelled to go around by way of Hertel avenue, about two miles out of the
way.

Col. Ward was prompt to act. He looked up the
archives and learned that the Pan-American Exposition never had any right,
except that of sufferance, to close up Amherst street. Then he send word to
Secretary Harris to remove the fences from the street at once.

This order threw the inhabitants of the Rainbow
City into consternation. They saw in imagination the entire population of
Buffalo swarming into the grounds and interfering with the work of razing
the buildings and carrying off whatever invidually or collectively it might
fancy, from the Goddess of Light on the Electric Tower to the Tower itself
which the city seems united in coveting.

Warden Harris accordingly sent word to Col.
Ward that he would not throw open the gates and would, on the contrary, resist
with all his resources every attempt to seize the gates. Defeated in this,
he said he would retreat to the citadel in the Tower, having destroyed the
bridges over the canal in the retreat.

When Col. Ward received this defiance he called
a council of war in the City Hall. There were present Gen. Kilpatrick J. Kennedy,
Gen. Charles M. Morse of the Engineering Corps, Admiral Henry Lyon of the
Navy Department and Secretary of War R. G. Parsons.

Flushed with memories of the day when, at the
head of the 202nd Regiment of Buffalo, he led the right of line at the occupation
of Santiago, Col. Ward outlined a plan of attack. In the event of a refusal
of an ultimatum to be dispatched to Warden Harris at daybreak, an attack was
to be made upon the Rainbow City at 6 o'clock this morning. Col. Ward in person
would lead a force of levelers, rodmen, chainmen and pavers from the Street
and Engineering Department against the West Amherst Gate. The attack was to
be covered by streams of water from hydrants in the neighborhood, directed
by a detachment of Admiral Lyon's marines. Gen. Morse was to head a similar
attack upon the East Amherst Gate, and Admiral Lyon was to attack in the rear,
approaching in boats by way of the Park Lake.

At sunrise, Col. War dispatched his ultimatum,
in which Warden Harris was given 24 hours to tear down the fences, failing
which Col. Ward declared he would tear them down himself with the aid of the
land and naval forces of the City of Buffalo.

Col. Ward was busy mobilizing his forces yesterday
when Warden Harris appeared with a flag of truce. Warden Harris stated that
he desired to surrender unconditionally. The terms were accepted.

It is arranged that police will be stationed
at the gates to exclude all except those having legitimate business about
or through the grounds, from the premises.

"The worst thing about this campaign was
that it was too short to make any more veterans," said Col. Ward as he
went to the telephone to order his forces to disband without further mustering
out proceedings.

April 12 - Mayor Knight at 2:20 o'clock
this afternoon began a public hearing on the proposition to purchase the electric
tower and re-erect it at the Front. Ald. Butler read the estimate of the cost
of removing the Tower from the Exposition grounds and re-erecting it on the
site suggested. The Engineering Department, he said, had estimated that the
cost of lighting the tower, six months in the year, two nights each week,
would be $960 for 10,000 lights.

"I understand that 5000 lights would be
sufficient," said Mr. Butler, "and if that is the case the cost
of lighting would be surely less."

Mr. James Monroe, speaking of the advisability
of purchasing the tower, called attention to the Strasburg clock in Germany,
for which an admission fee was charged. He thought some similar plan might
be devised in connection with the Electric Tower.

"It could be the greatest thing we could
have to advertise the city," added Mr. Monroe. "I was on a steamship
with the Lord Mayor of London once. He was on his way home, and I asked him
if he had visited Buffalo. He asked me where Buffalo was, and if we had a
falls here. This illustrates that we need something to bring people to Buffalo."

April 12 - Ald. Butler has begun an
inquiry preliminary to setting a-foot a plan to save the Rustin Fountain in
the North Bay of Park Lake. The Alderman has learned that the pumps which
forced the water into the air were an exhibit of one firm at the Exposition,
and the electric engines which furnished the motive power were an exhibit
by E.G. Barnard of Troy. Ald. Butler will not ascertain at what price the
machinery can be purchased and installed, and if not too high, he will see
what he can do toward raising the funds by subscription.

The matter was brought up at a meeting of the
Park Board yesterday when bids were opened for removing from the lake the
artificial island upon which the fountain was located. One bid was for $750
and the other for $300. Final action was delayed pending the result of Ald.
Butler's inquiries.

April 16 - When all the preliminaries
necessary to purchasing the Electric Tower for re-erection at the Front are
completed by the committee of citizens, it is proposed to place subscription
blanks in all of the down-town department stores, the banks and other places
of public resort.

Subscription blanks also will be placed in
stores and banks of the East and West sides, that all may have an opportunity
to give aid to a worthy project. This action, however, will not be taken until
after the meeting next Friday evening, as it is desired to first let the public
know the exact cost of the tower, including its demolition and re-erection
at the Front.

April 17 - Good news for the people
of Buffalo who want to purchase the Electric Tower and re-erect it at the
Front is furnished today by Ald. Joseph Butler. In the original estimate on
the cost of lighting the tower two nights each week for six months, the figures
were placed at about $5000. Mr. Butler, after a conference with various electric
lighting concerns, is able to report that the cost for lighting the tower
every night in the week for six months will not exceed. $3000. The actual
figures are $2916.

These figures are given as the cost of furnishing
5000 lights, which it is contended, is sufficient to furnish illumination.
Mr. Butler when seen today was much elated over his discovery. He said:

"I can see very plainly now, how the tower
can be operated on a paying basis. It will be easy enough to collect in rental
more than enough to pay the cost of lighting. Then, if we charge an admission
fee of 10 cents to persons who want to go to the top of the tower, the revenue
is certain to run up into the thousands of dollars. That was the case at the
Pan-American, and it's a poor rule that won't work both ways."

Robert A. Wallace, the architect, one of a
committee to ascertain if the tower in its present condition is strong enough
to bear the weight of a terra cotta covering, said today that he had not yet
completed his investigation. He added:

"I doubt if the present frame work will
stand the weight of brick or terra cotta. But if it does not, the cost of
strenghtening it will not be great. My idea would be to cover the frame with
what is known as expanding iron and then put over this a coating of cement,
which would retain the present appearance of the tower and make decoration
possible. I will suggest this to the committee when the proper time comes."

April 17 - Letter to the Editor: I have
noticed a great deal of discussion going on about the disposal of the Electric
Tower. I would like to offer a suggestion: To move the Tower to the Front
would cost an immense sum of money, as I understand it. Why not just leave
it where it is? For a smaller sum we could undoubtedly buy the land it is
on and the land connecting it with the park. There could be no better location
and it would be an additional attraction to the park which was very much abused
last summer. There is no decent room for crowds in the park which attend the
band concerts in summer. They could be held in front of the tower and the
crowds much better accomodated. E. T.

April 19 - At the meeting of Mayor Knight's
Electric Tower Committee last night, the suggestion to the NEWS that 200,000
tickets be issued and sold at $1 each, and that each ticket shall entitle
the holder to a ride in the tower elevator, was received with much favor.

In the discussion on the suggestion, it was
disclosed that each member of the committee thought the plan a most admirable
one. It the tickets were offered for sale as outlined, it would be with the
understanding that the tower is purchased and erected at the Front, and furnished
with one or more elevators. Each purchaser of a ticket will be assured of
the return of his money, provided the tower is not purchased and erected as
planned.

The scheme of tower elevator tickets is commended
highly on one ground, viz: That every subscribed will have an individual interest
in the enterprise, and will get something in return for his investment.

Robert A. Wallace, the architect, reported
to the committee that the tower is not of sufficient strength to bear the
weight of terra cotta or brick surfacing. Mr. Wallace accordingly figured
an expense of $25,000 for expanded metal to strengthen the frame, and a cement
covering to take the place of the present block-wood exterior. He holds that
a cement covering should be used to preserve the tower in its present appearance.

The members of the committee present last night
were Ald. Joseph Butler, chairman; Fred Fenster, F. R. Doherty, William Bean,
J. O. Munroe, D. C. Ralph, C. H. Avery, Michael Shea and James Macbeth. Messrs.
Shea, Ralph and Munroe were appointed a press committee to secure the aid
of the newspapers in obtaining subscriptions for the purchas of the tower.

Ald. Butler reported that the tower could be
lighted with 10,000 lights every night in the week for six months for $2916.

It was announced that Joseph P. Dudley had
resigned from the committee on account of pressing business. Mr. Ralph was
named treasurer in place of Mr. Dudley.

Mr. Shea offered the use of his theater for
a mass-meeting Sunday night. After discussing various plans to raise money,
each committeeman took a subscription blank and agreed to announce progress
at the meeting next Tuesday evening.

April 21 - Delaware Park is in a deplorable
state. Considerable time and a great deal of work will be necessary to restore
it to the condition in which it was when the Park Commissioners consented
that part of the grounds be used in connection with the Pan-American Exposition.

The Chicago House Wrecking Company, which is
dismantling the Pan-American buildings, refuses to do anything toward restoring
the park grounds to their pristine loveliness. The Park Commission will be
required to do the work, and where the commission is going to get the money
is a problem which is giving the commissioners much concern.

President Hengerer and two of his fellow members
on the Park Commission made an inspection of the Park yesterday afternoon.
With President Hengerer were Commissioners William A. Joyce and George C.
Ginther. Commissioner Charles Mosier was out of the city, and Commissioner
Frank H. Goodyear is ill at his home.

Commissioners Hengerer, Joyce and Ginther devoted
most of their time to looking over the section of the park which was used
as part of the site of the late exposition. It may be said without reservation
that the condition in which they found that section of the park was anything
but gratifying. As one of them expressed it, it was, in fact, disheartening.

There was hardly a square inch of the part
of the park in question that was not covered with debris strewn about by the
company, which is pulling the Exposition apart for what there is in it. This
rubbish, consisting of crushed statuary, splintered boards, whole timbers,
sections of steel construction, heaps of plaster and other stuff, was scattered
about in endless confusion, looking as one of the commissioners put it, as
if nothing less than the liveliest kind of a cyclone or the "quakiest"
sort of an earthquake would ever remove it.

Besides this there were rows and rows of piles
which will have to be pulled out one by one, entailing an almost endless round
of hard labor and expensive labor at that.

Over near the Park House was a neat little
frame building which was erected before the opening of the Exposition, and
which was intended for permanent use as a retiring room for women. The commissioners
were told that thieves had despoiled it during the winter and, upon visiting
it, found every bit of plumbing in it had been lugged away and that the vandals
who stole the plumbing had even taken the walls partitioning the interior
of the building.

"They left the roof and the four side
walls, and I supposed we ought to be thankful for that," said Commissioner
Ginther.

When asked if the Chicago House Wrecking Company
would do anything in the way of restoring the park grounds to their original
condition, Commissioner Ginther said:

"No, anything that is done will have to
be done by the Park Board. In my judgment it will take six weeks or two months
to put the grounds in anything like the shape in which they were before the
Pan-American. It will require considerable money and the question arises where
we will get it. Of course, the city will have to supply it eventually, as
the grounds cannot be left in the deplorable shape in which we found them
today."

April 23 - Enthusiasm over the purchase
of the Electric Tower and its re-erection at the Front or some other site
that the people of Buffalo may decide upon, is rapidly on the increase. The
Mayor's committee, appointed to take the matter in hand, is pleased over the
reception accorded by the people, and there seem many indications that the
money necessary to preserve the Tower will be raised in short order.

Ald. Joseph Butler, chairman of the Mayor's
committee, is elated over the progress he has made. He says that there is
a strong sentiment in favor of leaving the Tower where it is for at least
five years, or until the people decide just where they want to relocate it.

"There seems to be a pretty general sentiment
among the people with whom I have come in contact, that the tower will be
the best in its present position," said Mr. Butler. "Their idea
seems to be that it will be best to lease the ground upon which the Tower
now stands, in addition to the strip of land leading from the Tower over the
Triumphal Bridge to Delaware Park, for a period of five years. After that
the city will probably want to buy the land outright and make it an addition
to the park."

Subscription blanks will be placed in the down-town
department stores today to enable everybody who desires to subscribe something
for the preservation of the Tower.

If the Tower is preserved in its present location,
it may be thought wise to also preserve the Triumphal Bridge and the Court
of the Fountains, which have not yet been impaired to any appreciable extent.
The contention is made that it will be cheaper to do this than to pay the
cost of tearing the Tower down and removing it and re-erecting it at the Front.

Mr. John H. Coxhead, at the meeting of the
Society for the Beautifying Buffalo, recently made this suggestion: That a
tract of land 800 feet wide and 2800 feet long, extending from the Memorial
Gateway, be acquired. This tract includes the Triumphal Causeway, Mirror Lakes,
Esplanade, Court of Fountains and the Electric Tower. Mr. Coxhead's idea is
to retain all these features just as they were during the Exposition. There
are 60 acres in the tract of land. He believes the cost will be no greater
than the cost of re-erecting the tower at the Front...

April 24 -Buffalo cannot build fast
enough to keep pace with the demands for factories, warehouses, private dwellings
and all kinds of structures. Contractors are advertising for help, not only
inthe local papers, but far and near are pleading for skilled men and common
laborers to put themselves off at Buffalo, if they want abundant work at the
top-of-the-market wages.

The permits issued for permanent buildings
this year exceeds those granted last year, though stimulated then by the Pan-American
expectation, while the values declared for the present work far outruns the
figures for any former year for the spring season. The work of building is
distributed throughout the city, which is expanding almost as rapidly on the
North and upper East Side as on the South Side near the steel plant. The adoption
of a plan to abate the South Buffalo floods has already exerted a marked influence
in the appreciation of values in that quarter.

The plans for an enormous foundry for the Snow
Pump works on Baldy avenue have been filed with the Bureau of Buildings, calling
for a structure 132 by 404 feet on teh ground and of model form. It is now
admitted everywhere in the country that the Pan-American has done wonders
in making the Greater Buffalo, and in that respect the experience of the city
is without parallel, for in every other instance the holding of an exposition
in a city has been followed by a reaction frequently amounting to a collapse.
But Buffalo is advancing by leaps and bounds that surpass even the experience
of the last two decades...

April 26 - Ald. Joseph Butler, chairman
of Mayor Knight's committee to collect subscriptions for the purchase and
preservation of the Electric Tower, unfolded a new scheme to the committee
at its meeting at the City Hall last night.

For $60,000, the Aderman said, the tower and
a good-sized plot of land around it can be purchased, and additional land,
making in all 60 acres, leased for a term of five or ten years. Mr. Butler's
plan is to lease enough land to take in the Esplanade, the Court of Fountains
and the Triumphal Causeway. He suggested this as a modification of Mr. Coxhead's
plan, which was to purchase the necessary ground and leave the tower where
it stands.

There were present of the committee Adl. Butler,
Willliam A. Bean, Robert Wallace, James O. Munroe and Richard H. Stafford.
It was announced that the people of Buffalo were not ready to subscribe until
it was definitely understodd whether the tower would be re-erected at the
Front or remain where it now stands.

It was decided to hold another meeting next
Monday at noon in the Common Council Chamber to decide on a site. After the
meeting the committee will inspect the tower to ascertain its condition. Ald.
Butler's plan is thought by the committee to be the best yet suggested.

April 29 - Another plan for preserving
the Electric Tower has been suggested. It is a modification of the Coxhead
plan by Architect John H. Coxhead himself. His latest scheme is to purchase
outright with the tower 20 acres of land, instead of 60 acres as originally
planned. This land stretches as a strip of varying width from the tracks of
the Belt Line Railroad, just back of the Electric Tower, to Delaware Park,
a distance of 2,500 feet.

From the railroad tracks to Amherst street,
the proposed strip is 450 feet wide, taking in the propylaea, bandstand, Electric
Tower and tower basin with space on either side for 75-foot boulevards. South
of the Court of Fountains the strip narrows to 150 feet to be continued as
a boulevard connecting the wider plots with Delaware Park.

Amherst Street would be continued at its present
high level. Crossing the strip at the Fountain of Abundance would be McKinley
Boulevard, with something to mark the spot where McKinley fell in the Temple
of Music. The plan embraces blocks of land bordering on the strip and on these
blocks would soon be built beautiful houses. It is pointed out that the value
of the land, which is owned by the Rumseys, would be greatly increased and
that they might be induced to sell the required slip as a very low figure.
Mr. Coxhead, who is president of the Society for Beautifying Buffalo, will
explain his plan to the tower committee, which holds a meeting Thursday evening.
He estimates the cost at from $75,000 to $100,000.

April 29 - For the purpose of inspecting
the Electric Tower and its surroundings with a view of ascertaining whether
it should be left in its present location or torn down and re-erected at the
Front, the members of Mayor Knight's committee visited the Pan-American grounds
yesterday afternoon in a special car provided by the Buffalo Street Railway
Company.

The members of the committe who made the trip
were Ald. Joseph Butler, chairman; William A. Bean, J.O. Munroe, Felix R.
Doherty, Robert Stafford, Fred Fenster and Robert Wallace. A meeting was first
held in the Common Council chamber at the City Hall, but no action of any
kind was taken. Another meeting will be held at 8 o'clock Thursday evening
in Part III of the Supreme Court to decide on which location the tower should
stand.

It is thought best to come to a decision at
once, because many people refuse to subscribe for the preservatin of the Tower
until its location has been decided upon.

Ald. Butler acted as guide at yesterday's inspection.
He had been over the ground on Sunday. Here are few of the things that will
have to be done, if the Tower remains where it is:

A tract of land on which the Tower stands,
and surrounding it, consisting of a patch 500 feet square, will have to be
purchased or leased; the land leading to the Tower, or Amherst street, from
Delaware Park, taking in the Triumphal Bridge, will have to be leased; something
wil have to be done to provide an approach from Amherst street, for when that
thoroughfare is restored to its original condition, it will be one feet below
the level; the colonnades and fountains will have to be repaired and supplied
with water and electric light connections; the staff work which is gone in
patches, will have to be replaced.